The present invention generally relates to a method and composition for enhancing fat-corrected milk production and milk component concentrations. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and composition for enhancing milk production by ruminants and milk component concentrations in milk produced by ruminants.
Milk producers are continually looking for new compositions and methods that permit a selective increase in the amount of milk produced by ruminants. A number of advances have been made over the years in incrementally increasing milk production by ruminants. For example, various changes in the ingredient composition of ruminant feed have been made in attempts to coax ruminants into enhancing feed intake and/or water intake in attempts to increase the amount of milk produced by ruminants.
Additionally, some efforts have focused on modifying the feed composition to cause digestion of particular feed components in particular ruminant stomach components. For example, techniques exist for making certain feed components or feed additives, such as certain proteins, amino acids, and fatty acids rumen-inert. Such rumen-inert feed components or additives are prevented to some extent from being digested in the rumen and consequently are digested to some extent in stomach components other than the rumen, such as in the abomasum. Complicating matters further, care must be taken to assure a particular feeding change does not cause health problems in the ruminant, such as ruminal keratosis, abomasal displacement, or laminitis.
Milk producers are also interested in selectively increasing component concentrations in milk produced by ruminants to incrementally add value to the produced milk. Manufacturers of dairy products value milk having a higher solids content because such milk increases the yield of products made from the milk and components of the milk. Indeed, both in the United States and in many foreign countries, milk producers are paid for the milk on a graded scale based on the amount of fat, protein, or other measures of solids that are contained in the milk.
In this regard, the composition of milk produced by lactating dairy cows may be modified by judicious feeding of certain feed components or additives. For example, promotion of a low acetate:propionate ratio in the volatile fatty acids produced in the rumen of dairy cows is thought to cause a significant decrease in the percentage of milk fat, as well as, a minor increase in the percentage of milk protein in produced milk. This scheme, however, may cause health problems, including ruminal keratosis, displacement of the abomasum, and laminitis, in dairy cows that consume such a ration over extended periods of time. Another effort focused on modifying milk component concentration, specifically milk protein concentration, in ruminant-produced milk relies upon feeding rumen-inert amino acids, especially methionine and lysine.
Though the various ruminant feeding techniques that have been proposed and/or practiced over the years have enhanced the overall knowledge base with respect to ruminant feeding, these techniques have not adequately resolved the issue of how to most economically, efficiently, and effectively increase the amount of milk produced by ruminants and/or increase the concentration of milk components in ruminant-produced milk. Therefore, a need still exists for an improved method and composition for feeding ruminants that enhances the amount of milk produced by the ruminants and/or enhances the concentration of milk components in the ruminant-produced milk.